Bright is the ring of words

Bright is the ring of words
When the right man rings them,
Fair the fall of songs
When the singer sings them,
Still [they are]1 carolled and said -
On wings they are carried -
After the singer is dead
And the maker buried.

Low as the singer lies
In the field of heather,
Songs of his fashion bring
The swains together.
And when the west is red 
With the sunset embers,
The lover lingers and sings
And the maid remembers.

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) , no title, from Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 14, published 1896

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by (Francis) Clive Saville Carey (1883-1968) , "Bright is the ring of words", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from Two "Songs of Travel", no. ?
by Roland Farley (1892-1932) , "Bright is the ring of words", <<1932. [voice and piano]
by Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) , "Song and singer", 1911. [voice and piano]
by William Henry Hadow, Sir (1859-1937) , "Bright is the ring of words", <<1937. [voice and piano]
by Samuel Liddle (1864?-1951) , "Bright is the ring of words", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by Geoffrey O'Hara (1882-1967) , "Bright is the ring of words", published 1947. [TTBB chorus and piano]
by Colin George Henry Oliver (1910-1997) , "Bright is the ring of words", 1939. [soprano or tenor and piano]
by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878-1937) , "Bright is the ring of words", published 1903 [voice and piano], from Two songs, no. ?
by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) , "Bright is the ring of words", 1904, from Songs of Travel, no. 8.
by Peter Warlock (1894-1930) [pseudonym] , "Bright is the ring of words", 1918, published 1983.
by Peter Warlock (1894-1930) [pseudonym] , "To the memory of a great singer", 1922, published 1923. [voice and piano]
by Arnold Williams , "Bright is the ring of words", published <<1940. [TTBB chorus (a cappella?)]

HUN Hungarian (Péter Molnár)
ITA Italian (Ferdinando Albeggiani)
ITA Italian (Amici Musica di Padova)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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